Abstract

CAMPOS-MONTIEL, Rafael Germán et al. BIOCONVERSION OF VEGETABLE WASTES TO BIOGAS FROM RUMENMICROORGANISMS. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2018, vol.34, n.1, pp.149-155. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2018.34.01.13.

The growing demand for food in urban areas generates an increasing amount of organic wastes, including vegetable residues. The management of these wastes can lead to greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) through its process, including collection, transportation, and accumulation in landfills. To identify the potential GHG from vegetable residues, in vitro fermentations of collected residues of lettuce (LS), cabbage (BOV), cauliflower (BOB), corn cob (HZM), and spinach (SO) leaves, as well as leftovers of cladodes from cactus pear (OF) from a food market, were compared with oat hay (AS), lucerne hay (AH) and corn silage (EZM), major components in ruminant feed using rumen fluid as the inoculum. The variables were: in vitro dry matter degradation (IVDMD), pH, kinetics of gas production and methane (CH4) concentration. Fermentation was carried out at 39 ºC for 96 h, and the gas samples to measure CH4 concentration were taken at 9, 12, 24, 34 and 48 h of incubation. The IVDMD of LS, BOV, BOB, HZM and OF was 12.8 % higher than those of the forages (AS, AH and EZM). Between 9 and 12 h of incubation, CH4 emission from BOV, BOB and HZM was 44.8 % higher than that from the three forages. Our results suggest that vegetable residues can be adequately degraded by the rumen microorganisms and, therefore, they can be used for biogas production in urban areas to decrease their accumulation in landfills.

Keywords : methane; organic wastes; gas production; bioenergy; vegetable residues.

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